HBV hosts delegation of social workers from South Korea

HBV hosts delegation of social workers from South Korea

August 20, 2019

Adult social care professionals from South Korea have arrived in the UK to learn more about the way local authorities work with private developers to deliver supported living schemes for vulnerable adults.

The delegation, arranged by the Korean Association of Social Workers (KASW) and Samsung Electronics comprised of leading academics, CEO’s and General Managers in the social housing sector in South Korea.

The delegation is spending a week touring a range of new build social housing developments across the UK in order promote international co-operation of social work among nations.

KASW is a non-profit organisation that was formed in 1967 in Seoul. Its membership consists of nearly 100,000 social workers in South Korea.

Alastair Sheehan and Steve Jordan of HBV, the specialist supported living developer based in Manchester were the first to greet them at the site of the company’s latest supported living development in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The new 20,000 sq. ft scheme consists of 16 apartments for physical and learning disabilities as well as 10 apartments for people with more complex needs. Tenants will be referred to the scheme by adult social care commissioners at Bradford City Council.

Alastair Sheehan, director of HBV, said:

“We are delighted to welcome our guests from South Korea to show them our supported living development model. It is particularly interesting to learn from them about the way they are innovating new assistive technology which is increasingly being commissioned to be woven into the fabric of new buildings by local authorities here in the UK.

“We should be proud that in the UK we are relatively advanced in terms of our social housing infrastructure and other countries can learn great things from our adult social care sector. We must make sure that the UK leads the way in assistive technology which can help change the lives of adults who need extra support to be more independent.”

Seung-Hwan Oh, President of the Korean Association of Social Workers (KASW), said:

“There are many differences between our social housing system and the UK’s but there is also plenty of common ground in that we are all working with constrained budgets to deliver suitable accommodation for vulnerable adults.

“Many of the development and funding challenges are the same and it is a pleasure to be here in the United Kingdom learning from other adult social care professionals in a spirit of friendly support and co-operation. Social housing is very dynamic here in the UK and we are taking away many great ideas to implement back home.”